The Bulls struggled at times in the season opener, the possible victims of rumors of a major trade with the Lakers for Kobe Bryant.

Ben Gordon had 27 points and Luol Deng added 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulls, who rallied from a 17-point second-half deficit to force the overtime.

“There’s never a deadline when it comes to trades,” Deng said. “I guess I have to learn to expect that for the rest of my career. There’s always someone who wants you. I didn’t think it really bothered us.”

Wright gave the Nets a 99-96 lead with a 3-pointer from the left corner less than a minute into the overtime.

Andres Nocioni, whose 3-pointer with 40 seconds to play tied the game at 96, got Chicago within a point with a jumper.

The teams traded two baskets apiece over the next three minutes with Ben Wallace getting Chicago within 103-102 with a dunk on a nice pass from Kirk Hinrich with 1:38 to play.

Jefferson then hit a floater and Carter, who was a woeful 6-of-21 from the field, stole a weak pass by Wallace near the foul line.

Jefferson nailed a 3-pointer with 37 seconds to play to push the Nets’ lead to 108-102 and he blocked a shot to end the Bulls’ chances.

Chicago rallied from a seven-point deficit over the final 1:31 to force the overtime. The Bulls even had a chance to win in regulation after Carter threw up the Nets’ third straight air ball with just under 20 seconds to play.

Gordon took the inbound pass and held the ball. He eventually was forced out on the right wing and got off a bad shot.

Hinrich, who finished with 14 points on a foul-plagued night, hit a floater to get the Bulls within 96-91 with 1:31 to go.

After Carter threw up an air ball from the right corner, Deng put in the rebound of a miss by Gordon to cut the lead to three points.

It was Kidd’s turn to hit air on the Nets’ next possession. Nocioni tied the game with a 3-pointer with 40 seconds to go.

Until the rally, Wright was going to be the hero. He hit two 3-pointers around two baskets by Carter and two free throws by Jefferson in a 12-2 spurt that gave New Jersey a 96-89 lead with 2:02 to play in regulation.

The Nets hit 37 of 41 free throws in the game, while Chicago was 19-of-26. Jefferson hit all 12 of his attempts from the line.

“It was definitely a good effort, but we just waited too long to turn it on for some reason,” Gordon said. “We have to be more consistent. We should have had more energy to come out on opening night. There’s no excuse for that.”

The Kobe Bryant saga produced another flurry of rumors in Chicago Wednesday. Chicago Bulls GM John Paxson is expected to address the Bryant-Bulls rumors today.

According to the Chicago Tribune, one report had Ben Gordon and a signed-and-traded P.J. Brown moving to the Sacramento Kings, with Ron Artest and Ben Wallace going to the Los Angeles Lakers and Bryant coming to Chicago. The Bulls and Kings did talk last week, but the dialogue didn’t progress far and now has little momentum.

The Tribune reported Paxson continued to explore ways to land Bryant. But as has been mentioned frequently, he won’t gut his roster to do so, and he doesn’t want to part with Deng.